Grassley released an internal memo produced by his energy policy staff who analyzed the situation and found that the biofuels blending requirement and the cost of Renewable Identification Number credits (RINs) “have little to do with the success of refineries and were not significant factors in the PES bankruptcy.”

“I’m concerned any time an American’s job could be lost,” Grassley said. “After I heard that the Renewable Fuel Standard was being blamed for the financial troubles of some refineries, I wanted to know more. So I asked my staff to get to the bottom of the situation. After reviewing the facts, I’m confident that the Renewable Fuel Standard isn’t harming refineries, that other factors are at work, and that the RFS law is working as Congress intended.”

In addition, Grassley notes that the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy has published a blog series on the real story behind why the refinery was led to declare bankruptcy.

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings says Senator Grassley’s analysis is spot on. “As more light is shone on the decisions PES management made between 2012 and today, it has become clear that they sacrificed RFS compliance for other investments which went bad…It would be outrageous for Congress or EPA to reform the RFS based on the mismanagement of one east coast refiner.”